Dec. 6: Sophomore Jordan Boucher snapped a 1-1 tie at 13:42 of the second period and goaltender Steve Perry made the goal stand up as the game winner with some big saves the rest of the way as Clarkson University turned back arch-rival St. Lawrence 2-1 in a ECAC Hockey Game at Appleton Arena Saturday night.
 
The Knights, 6-7-4 overall and 4-1-2 in league play got their first win in three meetings with the Saints this season, and SLU has still not beaten their rivals in Appleton since the 2010 playoffs The two teams tied 2-2 in a non-league meeting earlier this year in Canton and the Saints took a 4-0 decision in the second game of the non-league season, but Clarkson gained the first league points of the year with Saturday's win.
 
"That was very similar to our other two games with Clarkson," said Saint head coach Greg Carvel. "I was proud of the way our guys competed and battled, but tonight just wasn't our night. I thought we had tied it a couple of times late, but the puck bounced away from us and their goaltender played a really good  game.
 
"We did well defensively and only gave up a couple of quality chances, but we just couldn't put the puck in the net tonight. A big part of that was Perry, but we had a couple of great chances that we missed as well."
 
Neither team scored in a tightly played first period with Clarkson holding a 10-5 edge in shots on goal. The Saints broke the scoring ice 4:01 into the second period when junior wing Tommy Thompson took a pass from freshman Mike Marnell, cut in front of Perry and put a shot under the crossbar at 4:01 for his fourth goal of the year.
 
The lead did not last long as defenseman James de Haas scored his third of the year on a shot from the point through traffic after a faceoff win in the Saint end at 5:35 and Boucher scored his fifth of the year and the game winner at 13:42 when he took a pass from Jeff DiNallo, cut to the net and tucked the puck inside the far post from point blank range.
 
Neither team scored in the third period, but the Saints had some great chances to tie it. Perry came up big on Woody Hudson on a point blank shot with just over 10 minutes to go in the period and the Saints missed a shot at an empty net with 1:55 to go in a scramble in front of Perry. The Saints pulled goalie Kyle Hayton for an extra attacker with just over a minute to play, but could not come up with the equalizer
 
Perry finished with 21 saves for Clarkson while Hayton made 29 saves for the Saints who were outshot 31-22.
 
The Saints will return to action with a home and home series against 11^th-ranked Vermont next weekend, playing  in Burlington on Friday with the return match at Appleton Saturday night.